The TRUE True Ending (An Undertale FanFiction)
by StarryCat Undertale
Summary: Frisk (female) finds herself on the surface yet again after saving all the monsters. This time, she experiences weird headaches and dreams with a familiar person. She then finds that there is still one more monster she has not yet saved and must go on an adventure to save the monster. Challenges are thrown in her way including random sicknesses and an evil spirit. *SPOILERZ, DUH*
1. Demons

Darkness swelled around her head so thick she couldn't see the back of her hand in front of her face. Her mind felt mushy and blank. Although the setting was creepy, a strange tranquility filled her. Then she heard a voice that would have been gentle if it didn't echo in an evil way.

" _You are broken, you don't need your soul_ ," the demon-like voice echoed.

She didn't know what to say or do. The calmness she had felt in her soul before was replaced with fear. Her mind was as blank as the darkness around her. Then she saw a dim red glow. The crimson color grew brighter as the figure got closer, until she could make out a face. The demon's pale skin glowed red with the only light coming from her empty, red eyes. Instinctively, she held her hand over where her heart was, her soul, as if the mushy armor could protect her. Of course, she knew it couldn't. Not even determination could save her from the familiar feeling.

" _Give it to me, or I'll rip it from your body!_ " the demon flashed a red knife in her face.

She felt burning tears of fire streaming down her face. Before she could respond back, a dim light blinded her. A gentle voice filled her empty mind again, but this time it didn't echo.

"Wake up, sweetie," the voice was indeed the demon's voice without an echo and with a hint of humor. Her voice was a cool breeze on a sweltering day.

The demon figure seemed to vanish as it was replaced with a muzzle and pure white fur. _Toriel_.

"You were thrashing again," Toriel explained her reason for her disturbance, "I knew you would rather not talk about these 'nightmares' you have, but I didn't want you to have to continue your suffering."

Toriel kissed her forehead, "Maybe you should just rest today, Frisk. I know how much you love cooking with Undyne and Papyrus, but you've been having a bad dream everyday for the past week. If you don't want to be isolated, I'm sure Sans wouldn't mind taking you to Grillby's. Just promise me to not go too crazy today. And by that I mean _stay away from Undyne and Papyrus_."

Frisk nodded in understanding, unable to speak. The relief she felt that the demon was just a dream mostly blocked her voice from coming. The other part was the familiar feeling she felt during the nightmare. It had felt so genuine.

Toriel smiled as she exited the room. Frisk sat up in bed, thinking about when she should reset. Maybe the dreams were a sign.

"I'll talk to Sans about it later," Frisk knew from all her past resets that just because Sans was such a lazybones, he was still very wise. He must have known _something_ about resets. Even if he didn't, once Frisk eventually did reset, he would forget everything, like the rest of them.

As Frisk got out of bed, she thought she felt a presence in her room. The feeling crept on her like the sins crawling on her back those times when she killed everyone.

She tried to shrug it off, but it stayed put.


	2. A Fight With A Friend

Frisk stepped outside to feel the warm early morning sun pound on her back. Every trace of the darkness of her vision from that night was washed away with the blinding light of the sun. Yet something still lingered from her dream. The feeling of being watched stayed with her everywhere she went.

She thought of her original plans for today and realized she had none. Frisk looked over at the other houses in the monster town they lived in. She was suddenly horribly bored.

Then she saw Sans and her mind immediately went to her plan to talk with him. She might as well get that over with now. He was snoozing in the warm sunlight as anyone would expect. Of course, Frisk knew better. He was keeping an eye on her. He always did. However, she didn't fully comprehend why.

She decided it was now or never. This was her chance to talk to Sans. She crept over quietly, trying to make it look like she thought he was sleeping.

"Sans!" Frisk screamed out with her arms raised above her head.

"Wha," Sans sleepily looked up at Frisk standing above him, "Oh, hi kid," Sans looked sad, depressed even, but the sight of Frisk seemed to cheer him up a little.

"Wanna go to Grillby's?" Frisk anxiously asked. She tried to sound cheerful, although the topic she wanted to talk about was serious.

"Sure, why not," Sans answered back, shrugging.

Frisk and Sans slowly walked side by side to the new Grillby's. It was like the one in the Underground except bigger. Sans walked in like he owned the place while Frisk tagged behind. It was empty in the morning, perfect for their talk. It was peaceful, although Frisk still felt like she was being watched.

"Heya, Grillby," Sans sat down at the bar stool, "2 burgs with extra ketchup," Sans gave him a half-asleep smile.

Grillby silently walked away as he always did.

"So, kiddo," Sans started as Frisk hopped on the stool next to him, "What's on your mind?"

Frisk knew what she wanted to talk about. The words were scattered around in her brain, but she didn't know how to put them together.

"Sans," Frisk nervously started, "I wanted to talk to you about something you'll either know everything about to nothing."

"C'mon, Frisk," Sans' eyes were still half closed, yet his smile was as big as it always was, "Just tell me, I'll listen."

Frisk took a deep breath, "It's about resets, they're-"

Frisk's words were cut short as Sans held his boney hand over her mouth, cutting off her breathing. His other hand was held tightly around her wrist. His once half-asleep face changed to be aware and worried. His eyes were wide open with blue fire burning his left eye. His smile faded to an angry frown.

"No," Sans' voice echoed all around her, "Not here. Not in public."

 _But no one's here,_ Frisk thought, but Sans' hand blocked the words from coming out.

Sans suddenly realized Frisk was struggling against him. He took his hand away from her face but kept his other hand firmly wrapped around her wrist. He searched his mind for any place that they could go to talk about resets; it was not a subject you could talk about anywhere.

Sans held tighter on her wrist and started dragging Frisk out of Grillby's.

"Wh-where are we going?" Frisk stuttered as Sans tried to run as fast as he could with a resisting child.

There was no time to answer. They had to get there as soon as possible. He saw his house come into view. Under it was a basement no one knew about, besides him. They could talk safely there.

As Sans and Frisk entered the basement, Sans sat down to catch his breath as Frisk rubbed her wrist, which had a red mark around it from Sans' firm grip.

"So," Frisk suddenly seemed reluctant to say anything, "I assume you know what resets are"

"Heh," Sans felt anger burning inside of him that was about to erupt, "Of course I know about them. In fact," Sans felt his eyes turn black, " _I know more about them than you_."

Frisk's eyes grew wide as she started to back away from Sans.

" _I know you've lost track of how many timelines you've reset. But I kept track. You've reset 37 timelines, if you reset again, it will be 38. Out of these 38 timelines, y-you've killed my brother 5 times_ ," at this point, the volcano had erupted. Sans was standing over Frisk. He could feel the blue fire in his eye, " _Out of those 5 times, you've killed everyone else twice_ ," at the thought of this, Sans felt an unbearably sharp pain in his chest as he relived the memory.

Frisk was backing away, trying to find the way out of the room. But Sans wasn't finished yet.

"Hey!" Sans searched for Frisk's soul, "I'm not finished yet!" with those words, Sans turned her soul blue and listened to her screams as he roughly used his magic to bring her back to him. This time he made her stay.

" _Out of the other 36 timelines_ ," Sans started though clenched teeth, " _You've done a mixture of killing and sparing 20 times. The other 16 timelines, including this one, you were a true pacifist and brought us to the surface. But that doesn't make you a good person. Each time, you wiped everyone's' memories and brought us back. Except for me_ ," Sans was barking in Frisk's face as tears streamed down her eyes, " _I remember everything_ ," with those finale words, Sans throw Frisk on the ground face first.

The volcano inside of Sans was going down. Frisk just laid there on the ground with a small puddle of tears growing. There was a large purple bruise forming on her forehead.

Sans suddenly realized what he had done to Frisk. He was acting as if she really had killed everyone again. The fire in Sans' eyes left, but his smile never returned. His eyes drooped down as he sunk to his knees. Now it was his turn to cry.

"Frisk," Sans sobbed, "I'm sorry," Sans knew any amount of apology couldn't make up for the yelling and screaming, but he could at least try to heal the wound.

At the sound of his calm words, Frisk stopped crying. She looked into Sans' sad eyes.

Her next actions surprised Sans. She smiled, gave him a hug, and ran out of the room. Sans got up just in time to see her running in the field just beyond the town they lived in; it was the opposite direction from Toriel's house.


	3. Run Away

"Thanks for taking me to MTT resort for dinner," Toriel's depressed voice filled Sans' ears as they walked home together in the dark night.

Sans felt guilt creep over him. Frisk had still not returned from when she ran off that morning. Toriel was devastated and Sans…

Sans hurt more than when he died. The guilt was strong.

"Toriel, I," Sans knew he had to tell her the truth, why Frisk really ran away, "I need to tell you something."

Toriel looked at Sans. Her eyes were full of a burning depression. The truth would either deepen or lift the depression.

"It's my fault," Sans spoke the truth, but he spoke so fast he hoped Toriel didn't understand a word he had said.

"What?" she gently and patiently responded.

Crap. He had to explain now.

"T-that Frisk," Sans couldn't finish the sentence. Watery tears burned like fire down his boney cheeks.

"Oh Sans," Toriel softly chuckled, "Out of all the stupid things you've ever said, that was the stupidest."

"But it's true!" Sans yelled in confusion, "I yelled at her, Toriel. I said some things I shouldn't have said. I," Sans didn't know how to end his argument. Streams of boiling tears flew in the air.

"Sans," Toriel stated with amazing patience, "Whatever had happened, I'm sure it wasn't your fault," Toriel smiled, though her eyes were still full of depression, "I believe this is where we must split apart."

Sans realized they were standing in front of his house. He didn't remember walking so much.

"Oh," Sans stopped his tears, "Uh, bye Tori."

"Bye Sans," Toriel seemed to being doing a little better, but Sans felt worse.

As Sans stepped into the house he shared with his brother, the quiet screaming from Mettaton on the T.V. flooded over him.

"Sans!" Papyrus jumped up from the couch when he heard the door close, "Where have you been? It's late," his voice was full of anger a relief.

Sans didn't respond back.

"You promised we were gonna make spaghetti together! I went to the store to buy some thyme since ours went bad, but when I got back, you were gone."

"Papyrus," Sans muttered.

"Sans, no!" Papyrus screamed, realizing a mistake he had made.

Sans blinked at him, confused.

Papyrus scratch his head in even more confusion, "Sans, that was the perfect opportunity for you to make a pun," Papyrus now saw how sad Sans looked, "What's wrong brother?"

Sans sudden realized he hadn't told Papyrus about Frisk.

"Frisk ran away," Sans could barely get the words out. He felt tears coming once again.

"Oh no!" Papyrus screamed, "My friend is missing? Worry not! On T.V., missing people always come back when they're hungry," Papyrus looked like he confused himself, "Or was that about dogs? No matter! Frisk will come back regardless to see his cool friend again!"

Sans felt a little better seeing how optimistic his brother was. No one in the world was as positive about everything as Papyrus.

"I must call Undyne! Alphys, too! I wonder if Mettaton would answer my call this time," Papyrus wondered to himself, "Don't you worry about a thing, brother! I, The Great Papyrus, shall make sure everyone knows about Frisk!"

Sans smiled and yawned, realizing how tired he was.

"'Night, bro," Sans sleepily yawned.

"Goodnight, my dear brother."

Frisk stumbled through the darkness. Her legs were cramped from sitting under that tree for so long. Her face felt wet and sticky from crying and her throat was dry.

"I must go back," Frisk murmured as she turned around and saw the monster village not far behind her. She must have spent most of that day crying.

" _Don't go back,_ " a voice in her head echoed, " _The further you are, the less of your screams they will hear. They hate you, Frisk. Remember Sans?_ "

Frisk head started to throb uncontrollably, more than a bruise could make it.

"W-who are you?" Frisk questioned the air around her.

" _You know me,_ " the familiar voice echoed, " _You've seen me in dreams. I'm so glad we can finally communicate with you fully conscious._ "

"Y-you! Your n-name is," Frisk searched her brain files for the memory of her name.

" _Of course you don't remember,_ " the echoing voice laughed, making Frisk's head throb even more, " _You reset so much, you're forgetting things. But I can help you, Frisk. Just don't go back. Sans is too lazy to help. Papyrus' only solution to everything is spaghetti. Undyne will just laugh. Toriel will just make a pie. Alphys won't listen. Mettaton doesn't talk to anyone anymore. Asgore, well, let's not get started with him,_ " the voice continued, " _You can't tell anyone about me or any of your problems. But you can trust me, Frisk. I_ can _help you, Frisk."_

Frisk tried to process all that information, "N-no," her headache was making it harder to speak, "They're my friends!"

" _Fine, but don't say I didn't warn you."_


	4. The Return

Frisk saw silhouettes of monsters coming into view.

 _I'm coming back home,_ Frisk thought happily to herself. She could already smell the pie Toriel always made. She could hear Sans' voice greeting her. She could feel the tugging on her hair as Undyne dragged her to her house for a cooking lesson. She could hear Papyrus' voice as he raved about how popular he was online. She could see the cute characters of anime that she watched with Alphys. She could hear Mettaton's loud, robotic voice as he sang to Napstablook's written music. She heard Asgore's gentle voice as he explained to her the wonders of gardening. She felt every emotion from every good memory crawl all over her.

" _Eh, don't count on it,_ " the echoing voice interrupted her thoughts.

"Wait, you know what I'm thinking?" Frisk questioned the demon.

" _Well, I'm kind of in your head,_ " the demon answered.

Frisk tried to ignore the headaches creeping in her mind again, but that was impossible. The demon's presence was as strong as a tsunami.

"Go away," Frisk commanded through clutched teeth.

"Look!" the familiar voice placed an image in her mind; Papyrus.

"It's Frisk," now she heard the quiet voice of Napstablook.

"Oh, my darling!" Mettaton's voice was unexpected.

As Frisk exited the field and entered the village, a crowd of all her friends crowded around her.

"My child!" this voice sounded the most relieved of them all, the voice of Toriel.

Toriel pushed past Undyne and Alphys just to get to Frisk. She scooped Frisk up in a big hug.

"Oh, my child," her voice was gentle, not angry.

Frisk looked around at everyone standing around her. They all looked happy and relieved to see her, even Undyne. Sans didn't looked angry anymore. In fact, he was smiling as big as an ocean. If Frisk had caused them so much worry, why weren't they mad at her?

"Where did that bruise come from?" Toriel interrupted her thoughts.

Sans suddenly broke out in a nervous sweat. Thankfully, Frisk was the only one who saw him.

"Oh I, uh, fell one my face," Frisk was a terrible liar, but hopefully they would believe her.

"Oh, Frisk," Toriel was crying tears of happiness, "I was so scared I was going to lose you."

Frisk couldn't contain her emotions any longer, "Why aren't any of you mad at me?" Frisk questioned anyone brave enough to answer, "I left all of you and caused you all so much worry. Shouldn't _someone_ be scolding me about running away, or something?"

"Kid, we," Undyne started to argue, but then couldn't think of what to say. Everyone else was frozen in confusion of a small child yelling at them.

Frisk shook herself free of Toriel's embrace. She pushed her way through the crowd and stormed into her house she shared with Toriel. Frisk shoved the door to her room open and slammed it closed. She angrily collapsed on her bed and closed her eyes.

...

There were two people, one female and one male. One watching and one oblivious to the eyes behind him. Both looked very different, yet there was one thing in common; they both felt a pain worse than a deep wound caused by a poisoned knife.

The one watching, the female, wasn't careful enough. She scraped the wall she leaned on.

The male looked shocked from the sudden noise, but then sighed.

"I know you're there," he stated without turning around.

"I know you know," she giggled, "But do you know why?"

He sighed once again, "I know what you want."

"Good," she stated, "And I know what you want. We both want the same thing. One difference is that we want it for different reasons," she leaned closer to the male, "The other difference is that you can physically get it and I can't."

"Maybe I can get it. Maybe I do want it. Maybe I would have the power to achieve my dreams with it," he stated with no emotions, "But that doesn't mean I will get it."

Those words seemed to frustrate the female, "If you would listen to my plan, you would get it. Get it for me. Remember everything I've done for you? You own me and you know it."

The male sighed for the third time, "Fine, what's your plan."

She smiled, satisfied with his response. She started to whisper her plan to him.


	5. SPEARghetti

Frisk woke up without a splitting headache. She felt as if a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. She breathed in the sweet smell of butterscotch-cinnamon pie, which Frisk found on her desk along with few notes written by all her _friends._

 _I'm sorry about the incident from earlier, my child. We love you. Please take this pie as an apology._

 _Love, Toriel_

 _hey, kiddo. sorry about yesterday. and the day before… and, uh, any other day._

 _HELLO, FRISK! IT IS I, YOUR COOL AND POPULAR FRIEND, THE GREAT PAPYRUS! PLEASE DON'T BE ANGRY OR SAD. I BELIEVE IN YOU!_

 _NYEHFULLY YOURS, THE GREAT PAPYRUS_

 _H-hi, Frisk. It's me. I, er, don't know what to say. Maybe watch some anime with me later?_

 _Your friend, Alphys_

 _Hey, punk. Er, I mean Frisk. Uh, don't kill yourself or anything and uh, watch anime with Alphys and me or come cooking with Papyrus and me sometime. Just do something with me, your bestie who loves you very much (as a friend)._

 _Your bestie, UNDYNE_

The letters made Frisk's feel a lot better. The pie Frisk cheerfully gobbled up filled her with energy and determination. She was sure that the evil demon was gone, for now.

She stepped out of her room to find the rest of the house smelled like butterscotch and cinnamon. Frisk found another note taped on the door.

 _Hello, Frisk. I had to run to the school real quick. I'm trying to get you signed up in my class when school starts back up! I'll be back soon. Hope you're feeling better._

 _Love, Toriel_

"I guess I'll go to Undyne's house then," Frisk mumbled. She was hoping she could have apologized to Toriel for her actions yesterday, but hanging out with Undyne and Papyrus sounded fun.

Frisk ran outside to feel a cold front had blown by the village. The sky was covered in a thin layer of white clouds and a soft, cool breeze made Frisk shiver. She skipped to Undyne's house in a rush before she got too cold.

Frisk knocked on the door, which opened almost immediately.

"Frisk!" Undyne almost pulled the door off its hinges as she swung the door open.

"Uh," Frisk suddenly didn't know what to say, "Hi, Undyne."

"Papyrus just started cooking. We weren't sure if you were gonna come or not," Undyne explained, "But we're still punching the vegetables, so you're not too late for that. Come on!"

Frisk felt happy and at home as she entered Undyne's house, which always smelled like burning food and saltwater. She heard squishing noises coming from the kitchen as Papyrus punched vegetables into a paste.

"Hey, Paps," Undyne fist bumped Papyrus, "Frisk came."

"Frisk!" Papyrus yelled, suddenly uninterested in the sauce he was making, "You're just in time to make some amazing spaghetti with me! I have a feeling that this is the day it will be edible!"

Frisk smiled. Every time, Papyrus said those same words, but he still believed in himself. Frisk wished that she was so confident about everything.

They began the fiery process of making the spaghetti, using Undyne's recipe. It took record time to finally start heating up the noodles, about 2 minutes.

"Wait, Papyrus," Undyne started to say, but it was too late. The house was already on fire.

"OH CRAP! EVERYONE OUT! NOW!" Undyne yelled just as the water sprinklers turned on.

The three of them ran out of the house just before the whole thing was engulfed in flames.

"Aww, man," Undyne muttered, "That's the third time that happened this week, and it's only Tuesday. Oh well, at least Alphys made everything in my house fire-proof. We just gotta wait for the sprinklers to put the fire out and then we can try again," Undyne chuckled.

Undyne looked at Papyrus and Frisk with a worried expression, "Are you two okay?"

"Of course, I, The Great Papyrus, am okay. I'm always okay," Papyrus stated narcissistically, pointing to himself with his eyes closed.

Frisk nodded, yet she didn't feel okay. Her head was throbbing again and the Earth was spinning under her feet. Despite the cold weather, Frisk was sweltering hot. Cooking had never made her feel so sick before. The fire wasn't making her feel this way.

"Uh, Frisk?" Undyne stared at her in confusion, "You don't look okay."

"I'm fine," Frisk voice was cracking, "I just," Frisk's voice was cut off drowsily as she fell. Undyne ran out, trying to catch Frisk, but she wasn't fast enough. Frisk felt herself being caught by an invisible force and felt the familiar feeling of being lifted surrounded by a blue light.

"Sans," Frisk muttered quietly while she was half-conscious. Once she felt she was safe, thanks to Sans, she let the darkness swelling around her close her eyes, knocking her unconscious.


	6. The Man Who Speaks in Hands

Someone was talking to her. All she saw was darkness blacker than the darkest night. The person talking wasn't using words. The person was using hands, followed by a strange noise to indicate he was talking.

Frisk recalled a memory from the Underground. The memory suddenly felt real, as if she was reliving it.

"Tra la la, care for a ride?" the riverboat person asked Frisk in a soft voice.

"Snowdin, please," Frisk responded as she climbed in the boat.

"Then we're off, tra la la," they replied as they set off in the riverboat person's boat.

A nice spray of mist cooled Frisk down from being in Hotland. For the first time in a while, Frisk had felt like she was at peace.

"Tra la la, beware of the man who speaks in hands," the riverboat person broke the silence.

Back then, Frisk had ignored that warning. Now the warning seemed as clear as light and as dangerous as Papyrus' cooking.

More hand-talking snapped Frisk back to the present. This time, although she could not see the hands, Frisk knew exactly what he had said.

" _Save me,_ " the man pleaded, " _I am trapped down here. No one knows I am alive._ "

"Why should I?" Frisk didn't know what to say. She had saved everyone before. She had brought everyone to the surface many times before. She had never seen or heard this man before. All the monsters were on the surface, no one else needed to be saved.

" _Because I can help you,_ " the man stated through his hands, " _You need help as much as I do. I've been watching you. You know you need help. Help me escape from where I rest, and I will help you escape from you own prison._ "

"What prison?" Frisk questioned.

" _You know what I'm talking about,_ " he stated, " _Maybe you just don't realize it yet. But you will when you are ready._ "

"Please, where are you. I want to help," Frisk begged.

" _I am-_ " the man started to say where he was, but he started to glitch. The he just disappeared. Poof, gone into thin air. Frisk never got to see him, but he felt his presence leave. First Frisk felt relieved. Then she heard a different voice.

" _Ha!_ " the voice laughed, " _He found a way to corrupt your mind so late after me? How pathetic!_ "

Frisk knew this echoing voice.

"Leave me alone!" Frisk screamed. She was getting sick of this demon. If only she could remember her name.

" _But you need me, Frisk,_ " the demon stated, " _I've told you before. If you're not gonna trust me, I must ask you to take at least one piece of advice from me,_ " the voice continued, " _Beware of the man who speaks in hands._ "

Frisk suddenly saw a dim light. Well, it would have been a dim light, but from being in her dark dreams so long, the light was blinding. Yet, she wasn't fully conscious.

Everything was fuzzy and blurry. Sounds echoed a whooshed in her eyes. It felt as if she were drowning underwater.

It took Frisk a while of concentration to realize people were standing around her. She could only recognize them by colors, her eyes made everything too fuzzy.

Frisk was able to make out Undyne, Sans, and Toriel. They were watching her, making sure she was okay.

This comforted Frisk. She was able to close her eyes and feel safe while she slept for the first time in weeks.

...

"Why won't she wake up?" Undyne screamed as she paced in circles around Frisk's room. She felt bad. Frisk had gotten sick right after the failed cooking attempt. Now Frisk lay in her bed with Toriel sitting by her and Sans snoozing softly on the floor.

"She needs to rest," Toriel responded with a very controlled voice, yet her face said otherwise. She was worried sick about Frisk. Toriel was very smart, but she didn't even know what was going on.

At least she could control her frustrations. "UGH!" Undyne shouted she would have probably flipped Frisk's desk out the window if Toriel didn't stop her.

"Undyne," Toriel firmly stated, "If you can't control yourself, please leave so Frisk can rest."

Undyne was near tears. The last time she felt this way was when Alphys had told her that she liked her. The only difference was those tears were tears of joy. These tears were tears of frustration, anger, and sorrow combined together.

"It's my fault. I shouldn't have let her cook with Papyrus and me today," Undyne choked out as she sunk to her knees on the floor.

Toriel chucked a tortured laugh, "Why do people always insist on blaming themselves when things go wrong?"

This filled the air with silence. The question was the truth, and everyone knew the answer to it. Unfortunately, no one is ever brave enough to answer it.

Undyne lay on the floor and closed her eyes. Maybe she could soften her frustrations with sleep, or maybe not.


	7. Burning Inside and Out

Undyne woke to a flashing blue light and loud crying and screaming.

"WHO DARES HURT FRISK?" Undyne barked threateningly, making two deadly magical spears appear in her hands. Then she realized it wasn't Frisk screaming at all, she was still soundly sleeping on her bed. Sans was burning in a fire of blue flames.

"Sans!" Undyne yelled, kneeling down to try to calm him down. She was surprised to feel that the blue flames had no temperature, yet the flames licked at her arms and looked hostile.

"Frisk! Frisk! FRISK!" Sans cried into nothingness. Tears and flames mixed together as they were thrown in the air.

"Sans! The punk is alright," Undyne desperately groaned. She wished she could speak the kind words that seemed to come so naturally to Toriel. He needed to calm down.

"Erm, I mean, Frisk's fine, Sans," Undyne spoke gently. Boy, was it hard, but it did seem to calm Sans down.

"S-she," the blue flames around Sans were going out and tears stopped streaming from his eyes, "She didn't die?"

"Of course not!" Undyne laughed, and then caught herself, "I mean, yeah, she's fine. She's just resting right now," Undyne replied more gently.

Sans shook his head in embarrassment. "Uh, sorry, Undyne. Just a stupid nightmare," Sans muttered, "Uh, where's Tori?"

Undyne looked around the room, suddenly realizing that Toriel wasn't there.

"Must have left during the night," Undyne concluded.

Sans got on his feet and stretched, mumbling about how he needed to stop sleeping on the ground in the process.

"I'm going to Grillby's," Sans shrugged, "Sorry I'm leaving you alone with the kid, but I haven't eaten since lunch yesterday."

Undyne watched as Sans walked out the room. How could he go from burning in flames to such tranquility in a matter of seconds? She didn't understand how people like Toriel and Sans could hide their emotions so well. Undyne found it nearly impossible to hide her emotions, which were usually expressed with knife-sharp words and glowing spears.

"Oh, hello, Undyne," Toriel softly spoke from the door, "I didn't know you were still here."

"Oh, yeah," Undyne nervously stated, "I've just been hanging out here, watching the kid."

"You must be hungry," Toriel presumed, "I'll go get you something. While I'm away, could you please take Frisk's temperature?"

"Uh, sure," Undyne replied, "Thanks, Toriel."

"Just stick it under her tongue until it beeps," Toriel instructed, handing Undyne a plastic stick-like object. Then she narrowed her eyes, "It is _not_ a spear, Undyne. Take this seriously."

Undyne watched as Toriel walked away. Now that she mentioned it, the thermometer _did_ look kind of like a spear. A tiny spear, perfect for causing deep wounds to her enemies.

Undyne shook her head, "NO," she firmly told herself, "Take this seriously for Frisk."

Undyne carefully opened Frisk's jaw with her hands. She placed the slimmer part of the thermometer under Frisk's tongue. When it beeped, Undyne removed it as instructed.

She read the reading and her jaw dropped.

"How's it going in here," Toriel asked as the sweet smell of buttered toast filled the room.

"Uh, Toriel," Undyne tried her best to form her words into sentences, "I may not be a doctor or know anything about humans, but I'm pretty sure if a human's temperature is over 120, it's bad."

"What?" Toriel screamed as she dropped a plate of toast on the ground and grabbed the thermometer.

"Oh no. Oh no," Toriel gasped in disbelief as she read the temperature, "122? That's over 25 degrees above normal body temperature!" Toriel looked straight at Undyne, "This is bad."

"I-is there anything I can do?" Undyne stuttered.

"Yes," Toriel responded after some thought, "Go to Alphys. Ask her to go to the nearest human city with you."

Toriel started pacing around the floor, then looked straight at Undyne, "Get medicine for a fever."

…

Frisk was falling in a dark abyss. She felt nothing from the world around her. No sounds, no visions, no comfort. Just the feeling of falling.

She felt as if she was falling for hours, ever since she had blacked out. Frisk had felt safe with Sans near her, catching her when she fell. Every lingering trace of the feeling of safety was erased from her.

After a while of feeling nothing, something grabbed Frisk's hand. It was a gentle gripped, not hard or threatening. Even if it felt so comforting, Frisk pulled her hand away as fast and as hard as she could. But the feeling didn't go away. Someone was gripping her hand, someone from the outside.

As soon as Frisk felt comfort wash over her like a gentle ocean wave, it faded. She felt herself hit the unseen ground. The impact should have killed her, but it was like the force was sucked in the floor. Frisk stood up and saw someone standing before her.

" _Remember me?_ " Hands, he was speaking in hands.

Before Frisk could respond, the darkness was giving in to light and colors. She should have felt relief, but the person had still not told her where he was. She couldn't save him, yet.


	8. Conquering

Undyne kicked and shoved her way inside of Toriel's house. She ran up the stairs to Frisk's room while dragging Alphys with her. Alphys was trying, and failing, to assure Undyne Frisk would be fine and to slow down. She clutched the bottle of pink liquid close to her, trying not to drop and break it.

Undyne threw the door open, almost causing the wood to splinter into millions of pieces.

"Give her the medicine!" Undyne yelled in a sad frustration.

"O-okay," Alphys stuttered, "I j-just gotta measure this." Alphys unscrewed the cap of the bottle and was carefully measuring the thick, pink liquid in the lid. Undyne stared as each moment felt like a thousand years.

Undyne couldn't stand it anymore.

"Give me that!" She hollered as she grabbed the medicine and poured the rest of its contents in the lid. And on her hand. And the floor.

"W-wait, Undyne!" Alphys tried to grab the bottle back. Then Undyne shoved the medicine down Frisk's throat. "Well, I g-guess a little more wouldn't hurt."

The room smelled like bubblegum as Toriel walked in.

"Is everyone okay?" Her voice shook as she spoke. A red blush was shown from under her white fur and her fur was wet around her eyes. She tried to hide the fact that she'd been crying, but she failed to do so.

"Oh, you're back already," Toriel's voice seemed to cheer up at the sight of Undyne and Alphys.

Undyne had just finished giving Frisk the medicine. Pick stained the corners of her mouth.

"You two deserve a break," Toriel stated, "I'll watch Frisk. I heard there was some anime marathon on right now. You both have fun."

Undyne and Alphys walked away, satisfied with their work. As they stepped on the wooden porch of Toriel's house, they saw Sans standing by the front door. He was staring at the door, alone with his thoughts. He was obviously occupied by some disturbing thought.

…

The first thing Frisk felt was a horrible taste in her mouth. Then she saw the light. She was in bed, snuggled up in a mountain of blankets. Toriel was sitting in a chair by her bed reading a book while Sans sat on the floor in the corner.

Frisk sat up in bed, but immediately regretted it. Her stomach turned and made her gasp. She felt like she was cooking on the inside. She was still sick.

"Frisk!" Sans shouted when he saw the movement.

Toriel looked up from her book, which Frisk could now see was about snails. Her eyes brightened up when she saw Frisk had woken.

"My child," Toriel softly spoke. Tears were wailing in her eyes.

Frisk tried to say something, anything, back, but no words came out of her mouth. Instead, the only noise was a series of hoarse coughs. Once she started coughing, she couldn't stop. She couldn't breathe. Blood was now starting to come out along with the air. Frisk had no idea what was going on around her, what Sans or Toriel were doing.

A small puddle of crimson had formed on Frisk's bed when she finally stopped coughing. She felt dizzy and exhausted. She felt the darkness engulfing her vision as it had before.

 _No…_ Frisk thought, trying to use what little determination she had left. Her vision came back. Frisk felt crusty blood drying under her mouth. Toriel and Sans were gone, probably going to get Alphys.

Frisk felt exhausted. Coughing really had drained her energy. She rested her head on the puffy pillow. This time she wouldn't go unconscious, she would rest willingly.

…

Frisk woke up in a different room, yet it was familiar. The action figures, the books, the computer, the racecar-shaped bed, the smell of spaghetti. All the scenery added up to one solution, Papyrus' room.

Frisk slipped out of the bed. She could easily move now. She still had a headache, but it was bearable. Lingering sickness stayed, yet did not worsen.

Frisk opened the door to see everyone sitting in the living room of Sans and Papyrus' house. Sans was on the floor, leaning against the door. Toriel, Papyrus, Asgore, Mettaton, and Napstablook on the couch. Undyne and Alphys snuggled together on the floor, watching anime on the T.V. Even Flowey, who was as stubborn as ever after Frisk forced him to come on the surface, was in the room.

Everyone looked peaceful, yet there was an unsettling feeling in the air. That feeling quickly disappeared when Papyrus noticed Frisk.

"Look!" Papyrus yelled, standing up, "It's Frisk!"

Like a group of cats seeing movement, everyone turned to look at Frisk. She nervously made her way down the stairs with six pairs of eyes on her. Most of the eyes were filled with relief. Some with lingering worry. But all were happy; Frisk couldn't help grinning.

"I'm better now," Frisk stated in a raspy voice.


	9. A Failed Plan

Flowey snuck his way to Papyrus' room. Or, at least, he tried to. It was hard to 'sneak' anywhere if you're a flower in a flowerpot that clinks around at your every footstep. Luckily, everyone was too busy to notice him.

Frisk was resting in Papyrus' room. Even though she claimed to be feeling better, Toriel made her lay back down to recover even further.

This was perfect for Flowey's plan. Frisk was now fully conscious and alone. Her remaining sickness made her bedridden, even if she didn't want to be.

Flowey found the door open ajar, which was strange. Papyrus was the one who led Frisk to the bed, and everyone knew he _always_ closed the door like his life depended on it.

Flowey used all his weight, which wasn't very much, to try and open the door enough to squeeze through.

"…if something's bothering you, you can tell me," Flowey knew that voice. The voice that angered him above all others. That stupid smiling trash bag!

"I-I'm fine," Flowey heard the raspy voice insist. So Sans was talking to Frisk. How interesting. They seemed to have formed some type of bond ever since they were on the surface.

Then everything sunk into Flowey at once. With the stupid smiling trash bag in the room, Flowey couldn't put his plan into action.

"Crap," Flowey muttered as he slowly clinked away, "Sorry Chara, gonna have to wait another day.

…

"Y'know kid, if something's bothering you, you can tell me," Sans pushed for the answers.

"I-I'm fine," Frisk stubbornly insisted, her voice cracking.

"Ya sure, kiddo?" Sans questioned. He didn't entirely believe Frisk. "You've been a bit down ever since you got sick."

"Sans, you've got nothing to worry about. I'll be okay," Frisk replied.

"Well, if you ever need someone to talk to, I'm right here. I'll listen to every word," Sans sighed.

This time Frisk went silent and looked away from him. Now Sans was certain something was wrong.

"Bye Frisk. Get better soon," Sans exited the room with a wave of his hand.

Sans heard a clinking noise full of trouble. He knew exactly who it was.

"Hey, weed," Sans called when he saw Flowey attempting to go down the stairs.

Flowey's face was beaded with sweat, "If you make any pun or joke, I will harm you."

"Heh, right now does seem like a good time to make a joke," Sans responded, "But I'm not gonna. I was gonna offer you help."

"What makes you think I need help," Flowey roared at Sans as he struggled to get down the next step.

Sans chuckled at his struggles. "Well okay then. Guess that requires less work out of me, which I love," Sans shrugged as he stated walking down the stairs.

"Ugh!" Flowey screamed in frustration, "Fine! I request your assistance," Flowey reluctantly stated.

Sans kneeled down and picked up the flower. "That's more like it," he smiled.

Once they were at the bottom of the stairs, Flowey squirmed around in his flowerpot, "Let me down! Let me down! _Let me down!_ "

"Alright, alright. No need to tie yourself in a knot," Sans stated as he set down Flowey, "Oh yeah, before I forget," Sans leaned closer to Flowey and felt his eyes turn into black holes, "Frisk needs to rest. Don't get near her, k?"

…

The house was full of delicious smells and cheerful chatter. In celebration of Frisk's getting better a few days ago, Toriel had invited everyone over for a dinner party. Even Flowey was there, however Frisk was sure Toriel forced him to come.

Everyone sat around the table as one family. No anger or sorrow was there, as if there was a barrier around the house blocking all the negative emotions. The main course had been eaten and everyone was grinding their teeth on Toriel's famous butterscotch-cinnamon pie. Nothing seemed to be going wrong. Frisk felt no remaining sickness and no one felt any hatred.

Then everything went wrong.

"Toriel!" Papyrus yelled across the table, "This pie is almost as great as I am! Could I have more?"

"Oh, sure," Toriel chuckled as she started to get up from her seat.

"I got this!" Frisk hurriedly got up and grabbed Papyrus' plate before Toriel could get up. Toriel had made the dinner; this was the least Frisk could have done for her.

Frisk cheerfully stepped in the kitchen where the rest of the pie was. This is when the strange things started to happen. Frisk couldn't remember what she was doing in there. It wasn't out of the ordinary; many people have walked in a room and forgotten what they had been doing at least once in their life.

But that wasn't it.

Frisk felt as if she couldn't remember anything. Her arms suddenly felt weak, she could hold the plate anymore. It dropped to the ground and shattered into thousands of pieces.

"Is everything okay out here?" Toriel hurried to the kitchen once she heard the impact of the plate and the ground.

Frisk was on the ground and now shaking violently, screeching shrieks of pain. Toriel gasped and screamed louder than Undyne's maniacally laughter while she was cooking.

"What's wrong, Tori?" Sans questioned as he walked in the room. It was hard for Frisk to make out what everyone was saying; their words bounced through her skull along with her brain.

"Oh gosh, Frisk!" Sans screamed as he broke out in a nervous sweat and ran down to Frisk, trying to pick her up. He failed, for Frisk kept kicking him out of her control as she shook on the ground.

At this point, everyone was in the room, staring at Frisk and not knowing what to do.

Suddenly, the pain and shaking stopped. Frisk felt nothing linger form what had just happened. She felt the same, yet very different. Something, through all that, gave her an extra piece of knowledge. A very important piece of knowledge.

Frisk knew where to find the man who speaks in hands.


	10. Mountain

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Sans asked Frisk. Very rarely did Sans' smile disappear from his face. Now that he was so worried about Frisk, Sans' 'eyebrows' were raised and he wore a frown.

Everyone was piled into Toriel's cozy living room. Toriel had tried her best to make the room more welcoming by lighting the fireplace and adding many pillows and soft blankets. After this conversation, no one would see the room as the same inviting room ever again.

"Yes," Frisk answered with confidence in her voice, yet she had no confidence.

"If that's what you want, no one will stop you, right?" he questioned anyone in the room. No one volunteered to stop Frisk form going.

"But you can't go alone," Sans stated.

Frisk looked at Toriel, who was standing alone in the corner of the room. She saw her crying softly.

"Sans," Frisk choked, "Will you come with me?"

Sans nodded. He couldn't find any words.

"I, The Great Papyrus, shall accompany you and Sans on your journey!" Papyrus shouted while standing up from his spot on the couch.

"No, Papyrus. You will not come with us," Sans sternly replied, being a protective brother.

"B-but Sans," Papyrus tried to state his argument.

" _No,_ " Sans put so much meaning into the one word.

Papyrus sat back down on the couch in discouragement.

"We'll leave tomorrow," Sans decided.

"Sans, wait," Undyne stood up from the floor. "Sure you might be strong, but do you really think that you alone can protect Frisk? Going back down Mt. Ebott could be dangerous. We don't know what made the Underground its home after we left," Undyne looked at Frisk, "Where did you say we were going again?"

Frisk thought back to the extra information she found in her memory after her episode. Purple rocks, diamonds. She knew the place.

"Waterfall," Frisk responded.

"Fine," Sans sighed, "You can come too, Undyne. We'll leave tomorrow after lunch."

…

The sun was in the middle of the sky. Undyne was calling out materials they needed while Sans and Frisk checked to make sure they had those things.

"Extra clothes."

"Check."

"Flashlights."

"Check."

Frisk got up to try and find Toriel. She hadn't said goodbye to her yet. She found Toriel not far from where she was.

Toriel looked around at the vast landscape before her. Frisk felt her emotions coming off of her all at once: sorrow, depression, anger. She didn't want Frisk to leave.

Frisk tugged at the back for her skirt to get her attention. Toriel turned around to see Frisk.

"Hello, my child," Toriel calmly stated. There was more beyond those words.

"I'll miss you," Frisk managed to say.

"I know you will," Toriel sighed, "I just don't understand why you would want to leave."

"It's complicated," Frisk knew she would never have been able to describe the situation. She couldn't even explain it to Sans and Undyne.

They went silent for a while, just staring at each other with sad expressions. They heard Undyne and Sans softly in the background.

"Bottled water."

"Check."

"Instant noodles."

"Check."

"Magical spear repair kit and polish."

"Che- wait. What do we need that for?"

"Shut up, we just need it."

"Frisk," Toriel broke the silence between them. She looked at her with shining eyes. The same look she had given her after Frisk had spared her after the battle.

Toriel bend down and gave Frisk a hug. It seemed to take a million years, and Frisk never wanted it to end. Then Toriel stood up and ran off without giving Frisk a second glance.

"Frisk, we're ready," Undyne called to Frisk. She turned around to see Undyne and Sans waving at her, each equipped with a backpack. Frisk ran up to them and put on her own backpack.

"Time to go," Sans muttered as they started their journey down the mountain.

…

They all just sat in the bed of golden flowers. The Underground brought back memories, and now that they were back, they were trying to take in everything at once. The thick air, the dark lights. Every movement brought back memories.

"We should get moving," Undyne stated as she stood up and brushed pollen off her jeans.

"Y-yeah," Sans responded, still in shock of being in the Underground again.

Frisk stood up, but she was speechless.

They were able to get through the ruins without trouble. However, no one felt like speaking. Undyne tried to start up a conversation a few times, but gave up. The journey was going to be a long one.


	11. Dad?

"Alright, kid, describe the area and I'll find it," Undyne stated as they three of them finished up eating. "I know my way around Waterfall better than the back of my hand."

They had entered Waterfall and decided to stop for dinner. Sans finished eating quickly and was trying to see how much sleeping time he could squeeze in while Frisk and Undyne finished up.

Frisk though back to the image that had found its way into her mind. She suddenly knew exactly where it was.

"I know where we need to go," Frisk shouted out, accidently waking Sans up.

"No! Who died?" Sans questioned as he jumped in the air. His faced turned blue in embarrassment as he realized he had been dreaming.

"Oh my gosh, Sans," Undyne laughed hysterically, then stopped with teary eyes, "I'm sorry, that shouldn't have been funny. What were you saying Frisk?"

Frisk already had packed up everything she had taken out to eat and was putting her backpack back on. She was ready to go and find this man. She felt he was close. She felt determination that had left before come back. For once her soul felt whole.

"I know where to go."

…

"Okay kid, so yeah, I trust ya, but why can't you tell us why we're even down here," Sans mattered, "I mean, all you told us was that you needed to go back down Mt. Ebott to find someone."

Frisk had dreaded that question. She didn't want to answer, to talk about her dreams of a dark room and the disturbing fact that she could read hands without seeing them.

"Yeah, Frisk," Undyne pried, "I do trust you, but I'm just curious."

Frisk felt they were still a decent distance away from their destination, so she decided to tell them the whole story.

"It started when I first blacked out," Frisk didn't know where to start. "I had a dream of someone. I couldn't see them, but I could hear his voice in my mind," Frisk paused, realizing all the extra information she was leaving out. Maybe it would be better to keep it that way.

"He was asking for me to save him."

Frisk hung her head in depression. What if she couldn't save him? It was easy to replay those events in her mind, but speaking them was like trying to remove a knife from your wrist.

Sans reached out and rested his hand on Frisk's shoulder, "Everything will be okay," he assured her.

This comforted Frisk.

"Uh, Frisk, what exactly are you looking for again?" Undyne asked.

"A door."

"Would that door I've never seen before in my life be the door you're looking for?" Undyne pointed at silver door on a wall.

Frisk's face brightened up, "Yes! That's it!" Frisk ran ahead of Sans and Undyne to the door. She placed her hand on the medal doorknob and a shock of electricity bolted through her body.

"We're coming!" Undyne yelled as she and Sans ran up to catch up with Frisk.

Once they stood by Frisk, she tried to open the door. It started to creak open. Undyne started to help Frisk open the heavy door.

"Wait, Undyne," Sans gripped her hand, "Maybe Frisk should go in alone."

Undyne laughed, "Sans, your jokes keep getting worse." The she looked through Sans' eyes, "You're serious, aren't you?"

Sans nodded, "Frisk is the one who was having the dreams. We just tagged along."

"Fine," Undyne sighed as she bent down to ruffle Frisk's hair, "Stay strong, kid."

As Frisk pushed the door open the rest of the way and entered the shade, she heard Sans' encouraging voice, "I'm rootin' for ya, kid."

Darkness closed around Frisk. The door disappeared behind her. She saw someone in a black clock stand in front of her with his back to her. Next to him was a quite large syringe floating in the air, full of a bubbling red liquid.

"Ah, yes. You've arrived," a gentle voice spoke. Although Frisk had never heard that voice before, she knew who it was. The voice matched up with the hands that she had seen in her head in her dreams.

He turned around. Now Frisk could see his face. He was a skeleton like Papyrus and Sans. He had empty goopy eyes and mouth that made him look like he was melting. There was a large crack in his skull above his right eye and another under his left eye.

"Before you save me," his gentle voice rang in Frisk's ears, "Let me tell you a story; a story about me. My name is WD Gaster. I was the Royal Scientist before your friend, Alphys," he sighed, as if reliving this memory was worse than dying over and over again.

"The other scientists and I had developed a formula for what you humans call 'determination.' We tested the formula, which we called DTM-8, on a Froggit. It had instantly burst into flames," Gaster looked down.

"We didn't want to give up on DTM-8 yet, so we created it again with some revisions. Just as I was ready to test it on a different Froggit, the king stopped me," his voice started to shake.

"The king said I had to test DTM-8 2.0 on my first son. I had two sons, a newborn and one a little over three years old. I didn't want to lose him if the formula didn't work," he tried to steady his voice, but he failed.

"I thought that maybe if I didn't eject the whole syringe of determination into him, he would survive. Not knowing what to do, I injected most of the determination into myself when a couple of Royal Guards brought in my son. I felt myself start to melt as I injected what little formula that was left into him," his voice was filling with rage.

"When the king realized I injected most of DTM-8 2.0 into myself, his was furious about me ignoring his instructions. He ordered me to be thrown into the Core. I can still feel the same pain for my skull cracking when I hit the ground. But it has never been more than the pain of not knowing whether my son had lived or not because of me. Ever since that day, I have been plotting my revenge here," Gaster paused for a while. Then he pointed at the syringe bobbing in the air.

"I realized that with enough determination, I could escape my prison here. I could get revenge on everyone who caused me pain. So I recreated the original DTM-8. The problem was, I knew I was missing something. Something I hadn't put into the past concoctions," with those words, Gaster's eyes burned in a red fire, similar to how Sans' left eye would burn when he was upset. The only difference was that Gaster's fire was the color of blood and it burned in both eyes. An evil looking Gaster Blaster appeared behind him.

" _I needed the soul of a human who is determined._ "

…

Undyne paced nervously by the place where the door had disappeared. She was polishing one of her magic spears to try and help her calm down.

Sans watched her, hoping that seeing her so nervous would help ease his emotions.

They hadn't spoken since Frisk disappeared in a blanket of swelling darkness. Beyond the faded door, Frisk had met someone whom they didn't know. Frisk was supposed to save someone else.

Undyne had finished polishing the spear and growled when she realized she had polished all of them. She sighed and stated to bite her nails, which was the next best thing to do.

Sans got up from sitting against the wall and started to pace with her. Suddenly, he felt his eye start to burn. Beyond the wall, something was going wrong.

Sans ran up to where the door had been and started pounding on the wall, trying to get it to budge and cave in.

"Undyne, help!" Sans desperately screamed.

"Wha… oh," Undyne muttered as she realized what Sans was doing. She summoned one of her freshly polished spears and throw it against the wall at full force. Sans groaned when the wall didn't move at all.

"I was hoping I didn't have to do this," Sans shouted as he summoned one of his Gaster Blasters.

…

Frisk felt threads of darkness wrap around her, trying to find her soul. She tried to refuse, but she was slowly losing hope.

" _Give it to me!_ " Gaster yelled as the bending darkness failed again to locate Frisk's soul. She could speak or breathe.

Then she heard a familiar blast. It reminded her of Sans. She must have been hallucinating.

Or so she thought.

"Whoever you are," the familiar deep voice started to shout, "leave Frisk alone! I want her back unharmed, or you're getting a _very_ bad time."

"Oh, we'll see about tha-" Gaster's voice was cut off as he saw who was standing there. The fire in his eyes went out and Frisk felt the grip of darkness loosen.

"S-Sans?" he questioned.

Frisk heard a gasp, then silence. Then the voice of Sans again, but this time it was surprised, not angry.

"Dad?"


	12. The Truth

"I-It can't be," Gaster's voice shook, "I thought you were dead!"  
Sans was as stunned as his dad. He had grown up not knowing his dad, living off the memory from a picture of his family with the words 'Don't forget.'

Sans felt himself being sucked into the past as he relived his memories. He was in a room, the lab where his dad worked. Everywhere you turned there were bottles of chemicals or equipment. He saw Froggits and other unfortunate monsters in cages for testing on. He felt happy excitement rush through him at the thought of visiting his dad at work. Little did he know he wasn't much different from the test-Froggits.

Then the scenery around him swished and changed. Sans was a couple years older now. He was wearing an over-sized blue jacket, the same one he kept his whole life. He was outside in the middle of the howling night holding 3-year-old Papyrus' hand. His brother was wearing a large red scarf that got torn on branches as he blindly ran with his brother. Sans and Papyrus eventually came across the village of Snowdin.

Sans forced Papyrus to stay hidden for as long as they needed. They lived in a small shed, which they had to cuddle together in as they slept. Although it was cold, the skeletons weren't bothered by weather. They snuggled for comfort, for the feeling of not being alone.

For their early years in Snowdin, Sans and Papyrus ate anything they could find in garbage cans or laying on the ground. Sans made sure Papyrus never left the shed. He would find the food and everything else they needed.

The one memory Sans relived that was the clearest was the one that was about him finding out about his powers. It had been a year since they had arrived in Snowdin. Sans woke up one morning to find himself feeling colder than normal.

"Just what we needed," Sans muttered with his eyes still closed, "More cold."

When he opened his eyes, he realized why. The weather hadn't changed. He was on the hard floor of the shed, but something was different. Papyrus wasn't there.

"Papyrus?" Sans shot up from where he was laying down. He felt blue sparks coming out of his left eyes, something he wasn't used to.

Sans immediately checked outside. Even though Sans had commanded him to never step outside no matter what, Papyrus had been trying to slip out every chance he had.

Sans opened the door a crack, just enough so he could see outside. There was his brother, getting pushed and shoved by a different monster. He was jumping on him and kicking him in the skull. Sans couldn't stand seeing his brother treated that way. He felt the foreign blue sparks in his eyes change into full flames. It didn't feel strange or different, the flames felt like they belonged, however it was the first time Sans' eye had burst into flames.

Sans charged out the door and used his new-found power to lift the bully off of his brother. It was a struggle and took a lot of energy, but he did it. He watched in satisfaction as the monster ran away in alarm.

Sans marched up to Papyrus just as he was standing up, groaning in pain.

"Hey bro," Sans stated in worry, "You're not hurt are you?"

"He broke my hand," Papyrus sniffed, holding out his hand for Sans to see a small chip on the palm.

"Awe, Papyrus," Sans felt like crying himself as he started to lead his brother back to the shed, "Everything will be okay. The beginning is always hard, but after some work, the end will always be happy."

"Sans?" The voice of Undyne pulled Sans back into the present.

Sans felt tears flow down his cheeks. He didn't even try to stop them from coming. He didn't care if Frisk, Undyne, or even if his long lost dad was watching. All his life, Sans wore a fake smile on his face. Behind that smile was an ocean on tears trying to push their way out. Up until that moment in the darkness, Sans refused to have the cool tears burn his face.

"Sans?" Gaster asked, finally overcoming the shock.

"Give me the child…" Sans' voice shook and he paused after each word.

…

Sans and Undyne were there. Frisk could hear them. She hear Undyne enter and Sans cry. But most importantly, she'd heard Sans call Gaster 'dad.'

The darkness holding her in place was finally slackening. Then Sans made a mistake by speaking.

"Give me the child…" Sans choked through tears, "Her soul is not yours."

This angered Gaster. Frisk felt the shadows gripped her tighter.

"No," Gaster growled with no sympathy, "I need her soul. I need to take revenge on Asgore."

"I will fight you before you hurt Frisk," Undyne threatened, snapping her fingers for a glowing spear to appear.

"Then you're just stones in my way!" Gaster screamed as he waved his hand and imprisoned Undyne and Sans in their own cages of darkness.

Frisk struggled to get loose, but the more she resisted, the firmer the shadows gripped. She knew she couldn't keep this up forever. Eventually she would run out of hope and determination. Then she could lose her soul to Gaster. He would take his revenge on Asgore. Frisk's body would be left to rot in the darkness.

Frisk heard laughter. The same echoing laughter she had heard many times before.

"That _idiot_!" she laughed, "He _still_ thinks it was Asgore that gave those orders?"

"Wait," Frisk whispered, "You gave the orders? You told him give the DTM-8 to his son? You ordered him to be thrown in the core?"

"Well, did you really think Asgore, that softy, would do those things? Asgore never ever talked to Gaster about the DTM-8. As I was considered the 'daughter' of Asgore, I decided to play around one boring day," the demon happily confessed, "I ordered Royal Guards to carry on my plan. I never knew that old scientist would make such a wonderful plan to destroy all monsters!"

Frisk now knew she _had_ to get out of there. Gaster was trying to get her soul for his DTM-8 so he could leave the Underground. Then, with the extra determination, he could wipe out the entire monster race because of something Asgore didn't do.

Frisk was filled with determination.


	13. A Red Glow

Undyne tried to use all her strength to pull apart the darkness, but even some things could resist people who suplex boulders just for fun.

"Ugh!" Undyne screamed, yet the thick shadows made her strong voice weak and quiet.

Sans sat in confusion. Everything was too much for him to take in. He had met his dad. The person he wondered about every day. The person he had been hiding from Papyrus to spare him the tears. The person he had thought abandoned him. The person locked in Sans' memories.

After finally meeting this person, Sans felt disappointed. He had LOVE. Too much LOVE. He had distanced himself greatly. He was able to kill and steal without anger or tears. But the way he gained his LOVE was different from had most people would.

It didn't come from EXP, like it did with Frisk.

It came from anger, from the desire of revenge.

Sans watched as Gaster held his melting boney hand out to the shadows shutting around Frisk.

" _Don't you dare touch her!_ " Undyne's desperate threatening voice echoed in the darkness.

Gaster looked in toward Undyne's way with a gloppy evil smile.

"I can do what I please," Gaster stated as he held out his hand with red fire coming from his goopy eyes. A dark bone shot out of nowhere right in Undyne's direction. Sans heard a screech of pain and then someone collapse. It couldn't be possible. How could someone so quickly and effortlessly knock out Undyne?

Sans felt tears creep to his eye sockets once again. _No, don't cry,_ he thought to himself. But it was too late. Streams of tears poured from the ocean in his head. He thought he had seen his dad as a caring person. No. He was a crazed skeleton powered by the longing for revenge.

Sans suddenly heard an evil laugh as someone cried out happily. He tried to keep his eyes open, to see what would happen. But he felt every dim light her could make out fade into darkness. His eyesight met dark dreams.

…

"Yes!" Gaster laughed evilly as he finally felt a glow come from the net of shadows in front of him. A red glow. He had found her soul.

" _No…"_ Frisk voice shook as she struggled to say the one word. Her soul was leaving her.

From the tone of her voice, Gaster was sure there was more Frisk wanted to say, but couldn't. It was too late. Gaster was holding her soul in one of his threads of darkness. Frisk lay unconscious in the webs. Without her soul she was just a body.

Gaster felt the worth of the soul as he carefully took it from the shadows and into his hands. He easily absorbed the soul in with the rest of his DTM-8 mixture.

Gaster clutched the syringe in his hands, being careful not to drop it or let it slip through the holes in his hands. It was time. Time to put his plan into action. Time to wipe out all monsters. Time to take revenge.

The thought of seeing piles of dust of his enemies fill him with the strength he needed to move on. Gaster poked the syringe in his wrist bone. Yes, it was painful, but it would soon ease. He injected the red liquid into himself.

Suddenly the world around him looked fuzzy. Gaster felt like he was falling, but his feet were firmly planted on the ground. Images too blurry to make out ran through his mind.

"No," he muttered, "I've made a mistake."

Then the world stopped spinning. Gaster was still standing in the same place he had been before. He was still in the dark room. But there was a difference. He felt something burn inside him; a power. The power of determination.

Gaster wasn't melting anymore. Besides the crakes in his skull and holes in his hand, he looked just like he had before he was thrown into the Core.

"Yes," Gaster chuckled, "It is working."

Gaster walked to the end of the room where Sans had blasted a hole to get in. He looked around at the people in the room. Sans, who appeared to be sleeping, Frisk, who was soulless, and the fish lady – Gaster had never caught her name – was knocked unconscious from the bone he had thrown at her.

An addition to Gaster's plan began to form in his head. He would find his other son, Papyrus, on the surface and bring him here. He would kill the fish in front of his sons to prove his strength. They would live happily together as a family.

Gaster chuckled quietly as he thought of not living alone anymore. He summoned his darkness bending magic and had the shadows gripping his captives disappear. More shadows covered the opening in the door so no one would escape.

Gaster started leisurely walking in the Underground, making his way to the barrier.

…

Sans woke up when he hit the ground. Darkness still bulged around him, making it difficult to tell if his eyes were open or not. Sans felt something burn inside as his left eye burned in blue flames, illuminating the area around him in light blue.

The first realization Sans came to was Gaster, his dad, was gone. He felt relieved at first; Gaster had been trying to take Frisk's soul. Then the second realization hit Sans like a car. If Gaster was gone, than he must have taken Frisk's soul. Sans investigated the room, searching for Frisk. There she was, lying motionless on the ground.

"No," Sans murmured as he crept closer to the body, "Please just be asleep."

Once he was standing over her body, Sans felt no warmth run through him as he held her limp arm. She gave no signs of being conscious.

Frisk looked like she was sleeping. Anyone could make that interpretation just by looking at her now. But she wasn't sleeping.

She was just a soulless body, existing only from past determination. Once the determination ran out, Frisk would fade like a monster dying, turning into dust.

The room was quiet. This would have been normal, however Sans just realized Undyne had been with him when he entered the room. Something had happened to her.

Sans used as must energy as he could to burn the fire in his eye bright so he could search the room for Undyne. There she was, around the area Sans had been before, laying in a pool of crimson blood mixed with saliva dribbling from her mouth.

Sans dropped Frisk's hand, suddenly realized he had been holding her hand the whole time. He ran over to Undyne to examine her shoulder. Blood was gushing out from a wound caused by a bone.

"Oh gosh," Sans muttered. He didn't know what to do.

One important fact that had felt unimportant before suddenly occurred to Sans. There was a weight on his back. He still had his backpack on! Inside was a MTT brand Monster First-Aid Kit.

Ten minutes later, Undyne slept unconsciously with her shoulder bandaged and cleaned. Sans was mopping up all the blood and saliva he could with the small rag included with the first-aid kit.

That would be fun to explain to Undyne if she woke up in a puddle of her own blood. "Hey Undyne, look!" Sans quietly muttered to amuse himself, "You're lying in a pool of _your_ own blood! Isn't that _hilarious?_ " Undyne would surely pass out again.

Sans eventually had gotten most of the blood to be licked up in the tongue of the rag. The ground was still a little sticky and shiny from drying blood, but it wasn't very noticeable.

Sans looked down at Frisk's soulless body. He had dragged her over to where Undyne had passed out. She didn't look real. Paper-white skin, motionless body, drooping closed eyes. Sans felt she looked worse every second.

"Hugh," Sans heard a groan that could only come from Undyne. He looked her way to see her rubbing her face with her one eye closed.

"Is that you, Sans?" Undyne asked without opening her eye. Without waiting for a response, she continued, moaning. "I just had the weirdest dream. We went back down Mount Ebott and went in this dark room with this weird guy that you-" Undyne's voice was drowsy with sleep until she opened her eyes.

"So it wasn't a dream?"


	14. WD Gaster

Undyne just stared at Frisk's frozen body in astonishment. Sans had just finished explaining what had happened while she was passed out. They came to the conclusion that Gaster had gotten away with Frisk's soul, and was now on his way to the barrier to take his revenge.

"He must be stopped!" Undyne screamed. She summoned a few magic spears and threw them against the dark wall. They bounced uselessly off the shadows. Despite the failed attempt, Undyne kept summoning her spears and kept trying.

Eventually, the yelling made Sans join in with the hopeless efforts. He threw countless bones and even shot a few Gaster Blasters when Undyne would step out of the way. In the end, Undyne sank to her knees, leading on the gloomy wall. Sans felt the emotion of sorrow come off of her. Being trapped in the dark with Frisk, who was slowly fading away, and Gaster out there, on his way to destroy all monsters was turning her insane.

Undyne banged her fists against the wall, groaning in pain each time her right arm moved her shoulder.

Sans inspected the room, looking for something, anything, that would allow them to escape. He urged his eye to glow brighter, sucking energy from his body. But the stolen energy was worth it. With the extra light, he found a crack in the wall with a dark bone lodged in it.

Sans ran up to the crack and pulled with all his might on the bone. "Undyne, help," he yelled across the room to her.

It only took moments for Undyne to figure out what was happening. She was standing by his side, tugging on the bone, crusty with a splash of drying blood. Eventually, with a lot of effort, they hauled it out, creating a small hole in the wall.

"Stand back," Sans stated as he raised his arms in the air, summoning a rather large Gaster Blaster. Undyne backed away as the blaster charged its laser and blasted it at the hole. As the blue laser cleared away, it revealed a larger hole in the wall, big enough for each of them to crawl through.

Sans crawled through the hole first. Undyne lifted the frozen body of Frisk and hauled her to the other side of the hole, where Sans took her. Undyne was the last to come out.

They blinked in the bright light that had momentarily blinded them. Undyne tenderly rubbed her hurt shoulder; the soft wind consistently blowing must have been bothering the wound.

"We need to get going," Sans stated as he looked around for any hints of where Gaster had gone.

"Right," Undyne replied as she lifted Frisk off from the ground where she was laying and started walking toward the broken barrier.

"Wait," Sans exclaimed, stopping Undyne in her tracks. "We can't go that way. Most likely, that's where Gaster went. If we caught up with him that way, he could surely kill us."

Undyne blushed in embarrassment. "Of course. We need to go back the way we came," Undyne stared in confusion, "But how are we gonna get back up?"

Sans thought of his teleportation powers he tried to keep secret. He couldn't teleport all of them such a great distance. But maybe, just maybe, he could lift all three of them to the top of the mountain once they reached the yellow flowers.

"I've got it covered."

…

They walked for a few minutes, and then realized if they were going to get to the surface before Gaster, they had to pick up the pace. Sans somehow found the energy to run so fast, even Undyne was had a little trouble trying to keep the same pace. Undyne suddenly stopped.

"What?" Sans snapped in annoyance as he turned around to face Undyne. She was standing a few feet behind him, looking down in shock at Frisk in her arms. Sans' annoyance disappeared when he saw movement.

Undyne knelt down as Sans crept closer so he could see Frisk better. Sure enough, her eyes were half open and her mouth was moving, trying to form words she was too weak to say.

"Frisk!" Sans yelled. He saw a weak light gray glow appear in front of Frisk. It was her soul. An empty gray heart. But there was something mixing with the bland gray. A different very weak glow, so dull it could have been mistaken for also being gray. But Sans saw it.

A red glow.

Stuck to the side of the empty soul was a sliver of red. Frisk wasn't entirely soulless; she still had a diminutive part of her soul. Determination was building up with the small part, giving Frisk strength to wake up. But this strength wouldn't last long. She was trying to tell them something. Sans was determined to make out the words.

"W-wasn't Asgore…" Frisk's voice was quiet and raspy as she tried to spit out the words.

"What wasn't Asgore," Sans pushed, trying to make sense of her harsh words.

"H-her name," Frisk choked. It was as if she couldn't remember the name, but it was on the tip of her tongue. Then realization flashed in her half-conscious eyes.

"C-Chara…" Frisk's voice was even more quiet and raspy, if the was even possible.

"What do you mean?" Undyne questioned, clearly as confused as Sans. However, when Frisk tried the talk, the only noise that came out was hoarse air. Her eyes were starting to close again.

Sans struggled to piece the puzzle together. Asgore didn't do something. Then it seemed obvious.

"Asgore didn't order Gaster to do anything? It was this 'Chara' person?" Sans crossed his fingers in hope that he was right. If he could tell Gaster, he wouldn't want revenge anymore. Then he would feel comfortable calling him his dad.

Frisk's dry lips curled up in a slight smile, an indication that Sans was right. She wiggled a nod so small, Sans thought he had imagined it. Then her eyes closed the rest of the way. She was out cold again.

Sans and Undyne jumped up, not even bothering to dust the dirt off their clothes. They had to get to the surface as quickly as possible. They could stop Gaster without blood being shed or dust being blown in the soft breezes.

…

"What now?" Undyne screamed as she and Sans stood in a bed of golden flowers, the roof casting bright light from the surface onto them.

Without saying a word, Sans summoned a blue cloud of light to form around them. Using all his strength, Sans lifted everyone into the air and they slowly made their way up. At first, Undyne looked scared, but eventually she built her confidence up. As for Sans, the work was exhausting. He had already used a lot of his energy earlier. His face was blushing blue and beaded with sweat when they finally were at the top.

As Sans released everyone from his grasp, he collapsed on the ground. He had never felt so drained in his entire life. At that moment the dirty ground felt like the softest, most comfortable cloud in the world. Sans wanted to stay there forever.

Undyne's voice interrupted Sans' thoughts. "Sans? Are you okay?"

The statement made Sans groan as he hopped off the ground. Frisk. The monsters. They needed to be saved.

"Come on!" Sans yelled at Undyne as he ran off. Undyne started running along with him while groaning at the pain in her shoulder from the sudden movement.

The monster village started to come into view. Sans saw the silhouettes of monsters gathered together. Something wasn't right.

Sans heard more groaning. Initially, he thought it was just Undyne again. But then he realized these groans were different, more high-pitched.

"Frisk!" Sans yelled, turning around to see her moving in Undyne's arms. "You're awake again!"

"Sans, keep going!" Undyne snapped, running ahead of Sans. "I sense something. A dark something."

Sans didn't realize how far he had run until they entered the village. No one noticed them, they were surrounding something. At this point, Frisk was able to stand with the support of Undyne. The determination was helping sustain her.

Sans pushed his way through the crowd to see what was happening. Still, no one seemed to notice him.

 _We're too late,_ Sans thought as he saw what they were looking at. In the center of the circle, there was Asgore. Gaster was on top of the former king with his boney hands around his neck.

" _I will get my revenge, starting with you!_ " Gaster screamed at Asgore.

With desperate tears streaming from his eyes, Asgore tried to respond. However the lack of air caused him to stay silent.

"Why isn't anyone helping?" Sans roared at everyone. Now everyone noticed Sans, Undyne, and Frisk had returned. But they still didn't pay much attention to them.

Sans growled in anger as he threw himself in the direction of Gaster. If no one else would help Asgore, he was gonna have to.

Sans felt a bolt of electricity run through his body. He was bumped back to the spot he had been standing before. So that's what was going on. Gaster had made and invisible force field around himself so no one could stop him.

Sans could feel Asgore's life fading away. Sans franticly tried a few more times to get through to him, but he failed.

As soon as Sans had given up hope, he heard a voice.

"It was Chara…" The voice was just over a shaky whisper. Sans looked around and saw Frisk had somehow gotten through the force field and was standing just two feet away from Gaster and Asgore. She was shaking on her lags badly, but she stayed determined.

Gaster released his gripped form Asgore's neck as he stared at Frisk in surprise.

"What did you say?" Gaster demanded.

"Asgore didn't make those orders. It was Chara," Frisk repeated hoarsely.

Gaster stood up from Asgore, who was coughing up a storm. Asgore quickly ran off away from him. Everyone watching looked confused. A few seemed to recognize the name.

"I-is it true?" Gaster questioned.

Frisk nodded.

Gaster bowed down and looked at the ground in shame.

"My king, I'm sorry," Gaster apologized. He looked at Asgore, then back at the ground.

"All this time I've been planning and taking my revenge on monsters," Gaster spoke softly and sadly.

Then his emotions quickly changed. He reached into his clock and took out a long sword. His eyes ignited in red flames as his mouth curved into an angry smile.

" _When I should've been taking my revenge on humans!_ " Gaster shrieked as he charged at Frisk.


	15. A Long Awaited Battle

**A note from me, the author: So this chapter is kinda stupid . I severely apologize.**

"NO!" Sans yelled as he pounded his fists on the force field. With each pound, nothing happen except Sans' fists being thrown back at him.

"Let's see how long you'll survive," Gaster stated to Frisk. He raised his arm, equipped with a sword, and swung it at her. Frisk was knocked to the ground. Sans watched a yellow bar appear in front of her. It slowly lowered, replaced with red, until barely any yellow was left.

Frisk tried to get back, up, but with so much of her soul missing, she was too weak. She lay on the ground with blood gushing from her arm.

"Frisk!" Sans screamed, continuing his constant pounding on the force field. He couldn't take it, just standing there, watching. He tried to run through the force field again. It tried to push him back, but he wouldn't let it. Sans saw Gaster slowly getting closer and closer to Frisk. With 1 HP left, Gaster would easily kill her.

Sans kept pushing forward while the barrier pushed back. He looked at Frisk once again. Gaster was standing over her with his sword raise. This made Sans fill with stamina so he could get through. Finally, with one last push of energy, Sans broke through. Electricity flew everywhere, trying to reform the hole Sans had ripped.

Sans ran up to Gaster and stood over Frisk, facing Gaster. He held out his arms and closed his eyes, waiting for the sword to meet his bones. He suddenly felt very weak for only having 1 HP. One hit from the sword and he was dead. Sans stood there with his eyes closed, waiting for his dust to spread.

When it never happened, Sans opened his eyes. Gaster was standing in front of him, holding his sword just inches away from his head.

"Sans," Gaster muttered, with crimson fire steaming from his eyes, "Move."

Sans just stared into his eyes without responding.

"My son," Gaster sighed, "All these years, I thought you were dead. Don't force me to make that become reality."

"Don't touch Frisk," Sans growled. He felt blue fire burning in his eye.

"Then you leave me with no choice." With those words, Gaster swung the flat part of his sword at Sans' chest. Sans was thrown back with cracking bones at the strength. He felt himself being tossed out of the force field and into the crowd. He lay on the stone path with blood coming out of his mouth. With one of his eyes closed and the other half open, the yellow bar in front of him looked blurry. Half of it was yellow, anyway. His HP was at .5 now.

Sans felt a sharp pain in his chest. At least one of his ribs had to be broken from the impact with the sword. So Gaster was so blinded from his LOVE that he had distanced himself so greatly, he had seriously injured his own son.

Sans heard muffled voices of monsters around him. He gave one last effort to get back up, but he couldn't move. Sans felt his eyes closing. He gave up once his vision was swallowed by darkness.

…

Frisk watched as Sans was thrown away by the wrath of Gaster. Now she lay helplessly on the ground with Gaster towering over her. She felt as if all hope had been lost.

Frisk looked up to see Gaster standing over her.

"Your move," he muttered gloomily.

Frisk tried to find the strength to speak. She knew what she wanted to say.

"No, I will not fight you," Frisk chocked. That was something she was good at; sparing people.

"Heh heh," Gaster chuckled, "You are an idiot." With those words, Gaster swung his sword down on Frisk. Miraculously, Frisk found the strength to roll out of the way with the sword landing on the ground just inches from where she ended up. Frisk felt stronger, but how? She looked up and saw what was left of her soul. Was it her imagination, or was the soul glowing brighter? No, it wasn't her imagination. Her soul had grown. Comprehension flooded into Frisk. It was because of her sparing Gaster. With her being herself, she had called a piece of her soul back to her.

Frisk stood up and looked right into Gaster's burning eyes. She had an idea. I may be a bad idea, stupid even, but it was worth trying.

"I'll be _dead_ serious with you," Frisk stated, her voice steady for the first time in a while. Puns: that was something that made up her life.

Gaster dropped his arms to his sides. "Did you just-"

"But I was so flabber- _gastered_ when I first saw you," Frisk continued.

"No," Gaster looked as if his was getting angry.

Frisk checked her soul. Sure enough, it was reforming. Now she just had to tell more puns.

"Oh, come on!" Frisk optimistically yelled, "That was very _punny_!"

"Enough," Gaster growled.

Frisk wasn't done. She still had a lot more of her soul to call back.

"And I've got a skele- _ton_ of more puns!" Frisk laughed as her soul was finally half complete.

"I said _enough!"_ Gaster screamed as he swung his arm around, sending a red blast of power straight towards Frisk, knocking her to the ground.

Frisk searched her mind, ready to use another pun. However, as Gaster got closer to her, she realized there was a better way to end all this. She could use jokes until the end of time to solve her problems, but there was only one action that could solve everything in just a few moments.

As Gaster crept even closer, Frisk summoned all the strength she could to get on her feet. Now Gaster stood right in front of her.

"I'll give you one last chance," Gaster challenged, "Fight me."

Frisk looked up into his fiery eyes. She held out her arms and wrapped them around Gaster in a hug.

"You can still be a good person," Frisk whispered into the folds of dark fabric.

"What?" Gaster shrieked, looking around. He glanced down at Frisk. The fire in his eyes seemed stop burning for a moment.

"No," he muttered as the fire flickered out.

The invisible force field around them ruptured into light blue electricity then disappeared.

"No!" he screamed, feeling his power run out.

The air around Frisk seemed to swirl, as if she was standing in a tornado. The wind was howling with great force around them.

" _NO!_ " Gaster roared louder than a lion.

The world flashed white until it froze as white.

When the world finally came back into focus for Frisk and Gaster, something was different. Not only was Frisk hugging Gaster, but he returned the embrace with tears in his eyes.

"I-I don't u-understand," he muttered.

…

Frisk sat on the hill overlooking the monster village. It looked the same as the day they had built it, except for one important difference. There, right next to Papyrus' and Sans' house, was a new house, made out of black material.

Frisk replayed the images in her mind of what had happened two weeks ago. Everything Gaster had done had been forgiven; even Sans had mercy on him.

As if on cue of this thought, Frisk heard rustling in bushes behind her. She turned to see Sans limp out of the brush. Frisk was honestly surprised to see him walking around. After Gaster had broken three of his ribs – which he had sincerely apologized for – Sans had been healing in bed. This must have been his first time out of bed since then.

"Heya," Sans greeted, "Mind if I join ya?

Frisk nodded and Sans sat by her.

"So," Sans stated, "The sunset's beautiful today."

Frisk hadn't even realized until now that the area around her was illuminated in an orange aura from the setting sun. She had been so occupied by her thoughts.

Frisk looked up into the black abyss of Sans' eyes, but he wasn't looking at her. He was staring off into space, deep in thought. Frisk knew exactly what he was thinking of.

Even though Frisk had now saved everyone, including Gaster, her past actions would never disappear, even if mostly everyone had forgotten. Frisk's soul still wasn't whole yet. She still hadn't apologized for something she had done in another life.

Frisk wrapped her arms around Sans in a friendly hug. She felt tears stream from her eyes. Sans jumped slightly in surprise as her words rang over him, but there was more meaning to the words on the inside.

"I'm sorry, Sans."


End file.
